What does God consist of?

 Apples and pears can be weighed and measured, but God cannot.

You can point at an apple and say: "There is an apple there on the table." But you cannot point at God and say, "God is sitting there on the park bench."

The soul, the self, and ugly are also words that denote something that cannot be weighed, measured, or pointed out.

If gods, angels, and ghosts exist, they must be made of something. They may not be made of electrons, protons, and neutrons. They may be made of something else, much like dark matter and dark energy.

This way of thinking is called dualism.

The opposite of dualism is monism, or materialism, which holds that only one substance exists: matter.

Dark matter is the invisible glue that holds the universe together. This mysterious material is all around us, making up most of the matter in the universe. But what exactly is dark matter? That's a question that scientists have been trying to solve for almost 100 years.

Dark matter makes up most of the mass in galaxies and galaxy clusters. In fact, scientists estimate that ordinary matter makes up only about 5% of the universe, while dark matter makes up about 27%. (The rest is thought to be dark energy, which is its own mystery). It's thought that dark matter shapes the cosmos, organizing galaxies and cosmic objects on a large scale.

https://science.nasa.gov/dark-matter/

Moreover, there may also be dark, mysterious fields that aren't electromagnetic, which convey telepathic and synchronistic waves. Who knows?

A policeman sees a drunk man searching for something under a streetlight and asks what the drunk has lost. He says he lost his keys and they both look under the streetlight together. After a few minutes the policeman asks if he is sure he lost them here, and the drunk replies, no, and that he probably lost them in the park. The policeman asks why he is searching here, and the drunk replies, "this is where the light is"  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetlight_effect

This is similar to what scientists do. They search where the light is. They are only interested in what can be measured. Religious and spiritual people are searching in the dark.

Extreme right-wingers and Christianity

Many Christians have extreme right-wing political views. Where in the New Testament do they find confirmation of such ideas? Was Jesus Christ a right-winger? Did he side with the rich and powerful? Was he fighting hard against the immigration of poor people? Was he against abortion?

Who are you?

You are not the one you think you are; you are someone else, a stranger. The world doesn't work the way you think it works. God isn't who you think he is. If it's a he, maybe it's a she, or maybe it's an extraterrestrial research institute that succeeded in planting living beings here on Earth. Maybe you are a failed experiment, or a successful one. You don't know. You don't even know how your cellphone works.

Doubts

 Did you choose the path you are on, or were you persuaded to choose it?

Are you fully convinced that this is the right path, or do you have doubts?

Are you on your way to nowhere, or to the promised land?

Maybe you´ve been misguided; if so, you are not alone.

So what?

What difference does it make to you if the universe is cyclic or if it was spontaneously created out of nothing 14 billion years ago?

What difference does it make to you if life started on Earth because aliens planted life spores here or if it was formed spontaneously in the sea somewhere?

What difference does it make to you if consciousness is created in the brain or if the brain is a kind of receiver that picks up cosmic consciousness waves?

Neuroscientists and Buddhists say that the self is an illusion. So what? Who cares? I mean, isn't everything an illusion? The material world isn't really material; it consists of mysterious electromagnetic fields, electron clouds, energy, and God knows what.

We are here, and we have to figure out how to survive, how to treat our friends and family, our neighbors, the animals around us, nature, and our planet. This is what is important.

Suppose you are a rich man, a billionaire. And the only thing you can think of to do with your money is to invest it in the stock market to get more money. Maybe you buy a mansion and fill it with art. At the same time, 150 million children globally suffer from chronic malnutrition. You are then a complete idiot.

The true self

There is someone who sees in the secret.

One part of you notices when you have done something wrong. This is your conscience. This part could also be called the Judge. He or she also notices when you occasionally do a good deed, give a coin to a beggar, for example, and you feel proud of yourself.

Other parts of you are silencing the inner Judge by spinning endless bullshit stories, excuses, and rationalizations. These parts are so loud and domineering that the Judge cannot be heard and is eventually forgotten. 

Your true self is a mixture. One part is the culprit, one part is the defense attorney, and one part is the Judge. One part is a fool, one part is a smart ass, one part is a lazy slouch, one part is kind and gentle, one part is a nervous wreck, one part is upright, one part is realistic, and so forth. All these different parts make up your true self, as I see it. None of them is false.

Your true self may be hypocritical, jealous, or selfish at the moment, but you hide it from both other people and from yourself. The nice mask you have to put on is your false self, but this part also belongs to you. It is also real.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_self_and_false_self

Matthew 6:2 "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Apocalypse

There is no sharp line between humans and animals. You can get a blood transfusion from a chimp, but not from a gorilla.

A top chimpanzee male can keep his position for four or five years, sometimes up to ten years.

His close friends are scheming to overthrow him. One of them will eventually succeed and can take over the leadership of the flock. The old king is beaten up and exiled.

The flock is happy to have a new leader who can guide them.

Chimpanzees live in hierarchical societies. There are upper-class, middle-class, and underclass chimpanzees.

War against neighboring flocks is commonplace.

Humans have inherited war and aggression from our ancestors, as well as love and compassion.

We can teach our children about things that don't exist, or might exist, and talk about the past and the future. Chimps don't understand anything about this.

Evolution has brought us here to the bitter end. Endless wars, the nuclear arms race, climate change, and pollution will soon make us go extinct. We are living in the end times.

Information

 - God did not create the universe. The universe is not created; it has always existed. God and his angels were created by the universe, like us, human beings.

- Where have you got this information from?

- I read it somewhere. Maybe I heard someone on YouTube talking about it.

Modern spirituality

I have always worked too much; my career in finance was everything to me. When I was in my forties, I had a mental breakdown and ended up in a psychiatric ward. There, I realized that I had to change my lifestyle. I decided to become a spiritual teacher instead.

I created a YouTube channel and wrote a book about my death experience, reincarnation, spirituality, and stuff like that. There is a huge market for such things. A lot of people have died and come back to tell their stories about what is going on there on the other side. The competition is tough, but I think this is good. I like freedom of choice and competition. Visit my website for more information. There you can order my book and find dates and tickets to my courses and lectures.

You shall have no other gods before me

There are so many gods to choose from. There are gods for the rich and gods for the poor, gods for the slow-witted and gods for the smartypants.

The Truth

When you have found God, and you know what he wants from us, or, if you have found out that there is no God, when you finally understand what life is all about: money, social status and sex, to eat or be eaten, or, when you have found your true self, or that the self is an illusion, or, when you know what will happen to us after death, then you are deluded.

When you have it all figured out, this is a clear sign that you have been misled. Later, you will realize that you had it all wrong. You had fooled yourself. And now you have found the truth, at last. Some years later, you again realize that you had it all wrong.

When you know, deep in your heart, what religion, political, or philosophical explanation is superior, then you must ask yourself: could it be that I don't see the full picture? If the answer is no, I am right; you can be convinced that you have been fooled.

I have lost friends to religious and spiritual cults, crazy ideas, and political convictions. And I have had friends who have lost me because of my opinions, views, and beliefs.

Ingrained convictions are like magic spells.

Your self and my self, are the same self

I'm not a right-winger, not a left-winger, and not something in between.

I'm not an atheist, not religious, and I don't care about spiritual teachers. To me, they are as wacky as priests, pastors, mullahs, gurus, and their passionate followers. 

I'm a human being. I was born somewhere, and I will die somewhere. And I have no expectations of what will happen to me after death.

I'm not indifferent, though. Too much selfishness, greed, hypocrisy, and self-deception is not good, I believe.

If you ignore your beliefs, your worldview, your political opinions, and your general preferences, and notice your consciousness, the naked experience of being alive, do you think that this, your basic awareness, is the same as mine, as well as in all the rest of us sentient beings?

Of course, the main part of life we are living in the realm of opinions, beliefs, and worldviews, the realm of thought, res cogitans, fighting each other, but isn't it good to know that also the realm of pure consciousness is there, at the base of it all?

Moreover, if there are sentient beings on other planets, mustn't they also have the same experience of being alive?

Fuck around and find out

We have to live as if we have free will and that life has some meaning. Many scientists don't believe in free will or that life and suffering may have meaning.

Of course, they may be right. You are born somewhere, and you will die somewhere, and that's it. And you can't change anything. This idea can make you cynical and coldhearted.

However, if you are deeply convinced that life is important and meaningful, this conviction can make you feel stronger and more focused. 

If it turns out that when you die, nothing happens, that there is no afterlife, that you will not be rewarded for your good deeds, you will not be disappointed. You are not there to notice.

Disappointment

In early August 1914, Europeans were euphoric. They cheered, sang, and waved flags. At last, there would be war; at last, they would get to fight on the Field of Honor. At last, they would find meaning in their meaningless lives. It had been a long time coming.

But the war was a disappointment. The field of honor turned out to be an ordinary farm field that reeked of corpses and feces.

In the spring of 1917, the Russians had had enough. Many French soldiers also longed for home. By November 1918, even the Germans had grown tired of the party and left the festivities, disappointed.

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When the Germans went to the polls in November 1932, the Nazi Party won 33% of the vote and became the largest party in the Reichstag. In January 1933, a coalition government was formed, and Hitler was appointed Chancellor.

In early March 1933, elections were held again. The Nazi Party now won 43.9% of the vote. On March 23, Hitler introduced a bill in the Reichstag to transfer all power to him personally. The right-wing parties voted for the bill. Hitler became an absolute ruler, and millions of Germans were overjoyed. At last, they had regained faith in the future.

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What if you, too, have been deceived? Imagine if everything you believe in and live for is misconceptions or pure idiocy. People have always been deceived into one thing or another, only to realize later it was a misconception. Or pure idiocy.

Neo-liberalism, neo-conservatism, neo-darwinism, nihilism, postmodernism, this or that particular guru, pastor, priest, mullah, imam, or spiritual teacher. 

                                                                      *

It is important to be passionate about something, fired up. It doesn't matter what you are passionate about: your homeland, Jesus Christ, or the Prophet Mohammad, a free market economy, or art. A disappointed person feels tired and lonely. A passionate person, on the other hand, is full of life. It really sparkles in the eyes.  

                                                                      *

Words are not just words. Words are magic spells that can transform a person into pretty much anything. You can become a right-winger or left-winger, religious or an atheist. You can become so unhappy that you want to kill yourself.

The Doomsday Clock

Humanity's defense spending now exceeds more than $2 trillion annually. But this is not enough; now it's comprehensive military rearmament that has the highest priority. The whole world is rearming. We need new nuclear weapons, new missile systems, new drones, and new submarines. We have to defend ourselves against each other. The struggle against climate change has been deprioritized.

We live in a very dangerous and crucial time. The Doomsday Clock is now at 89 seconds to midnight.

The magic of reality

You have two eyes. They scan these letters and convert them into electrical nerve impulses that quickly find their way into your brain, like a failed and petty New Year's cracker.

Maybe you don't have a brain. Perhaps it's a brain that has you. But what difference does it make to you in your life?

Anyway, you also have a nose, a mouth, ears, and feet. You have a heart that pumps blood and an abdominal cavity that is filled with disgusting entrails. Now you have come here, for some reason.

Reading is a mystical activity, but you don't find it mystical. Not the least. You are so used to reading. It's an everyday thing. But think about it, your brain converts these letters, in some incomprehensible way, to an inner voice that you can clearly hear inside your skull. Isn't this amazing? Is it really me speaking in your brain? If you listen very carefully, you can hear that this voice has a dialect and a tone that you recognize. This is your voice, yes, but it has now been temporarily taken over by me.

Self-knowledge

If you want to clarify for yourself your values, ideals, and worldview, what kind of God you believe in, or do not believe in, what type of person you are, then the best way is to pay attention to your actions and decisions. Your thoughts are not that interesting. Actions speak louder than words.

Examine your decisions, your choices of path in life. Did you stay or did you go? Did you choose money over love? Did you think that it is better to be safe than sorry? Was your career more important to you than friendship? Did you work too much? Did you choose to go that extra mile and to be on your toes, or did you resign to find a less demanding job that gave you more time with your friends and family? 

Are you a churchgoing Christian who stores up for yourself treasures on earth instead of in heaven? Are you a realist, after all? 

Are you a hypocrite? Are you a pretender? 

Examine your actions. Do you abhor modern factory farming, but don't want to pay for organic? Are you a miser? Do you prefer escape, to get as far away from yourself as you can?

Self-exploration may be beneficial, but I don't care. I don't care whether my values and beliefs align with my actions. And I will certainly not try to change them.

Agnosticism

Modern scientists can only explain a small fraction of what is going on in the world. The universe consists of 95% dark matter and dark energy. They don't know what that stuff is. They don't even know what ordinary matter is. What is an electron? What is a quark? They don't know?

They can't explain how electrochemical reactions in the brain can produce consciousness and thoughts. They can't explain how life emerged 4 billion years ago? They don't know what was before the Big Bang. They come up with lots of different hypotheses, but they can't show any evidence to support them.

Religious and spiritual people create their own stories, myths, and fairy tales, and different religions and spiritual teachers offer different explanations.

Why is it so hard to accept that we don't have a clue what life is all about, and why we are here. We don't know if there is a God somewhere. We don't know what will happen to us when we die. We don't know if it is important how we live our lives.

Atheists and theists are of the same wool. They think they know, but they don't.

The inner voice

If you are sitting on a bus, looking out the window, and letting your mind wander freely, you can discover how the everyday mind works.

Isn't it amazing how much BS is going on there inside your skull? Are you talking to yourself or are you talking to someone else? Who are you talking to? Are you talking to an enemy or a friend? Are you explaining yourself to an old lover? Are you talking to your dead parents? Are you talking to your stupid brother? Are you talking to God? How can that be? You are not religious, not at all.

Who is this God that you are talking to? What does he look like? Is he a jealous and vengeful God? Or is it a she? Is she a kind and loving God? Is she a wrathful God, like Kali? Are you asking for help?

Right and wrong

Ethics and morals don't exist at the most fundamental level in nature. There is no right and wrong in the realm of elementary particles. Insects and plants don't care about fairness or equality. Monkeys and apes can exhibit some signs of concern for justice, but the battle between good and evil is played out in the human dimension.

The human brain consists of billions of nerve cells, which are interconnected through dendrites and axons. Moreover, all human brains are interconnected, forming an enormous mind-web, which Teilhard de Chardin referred to as the noosphere. Here is where the battle between the light and the dark forces unfolds.

You have to choose a side. You can't just sit there on the fence forever. The problem is that you don't know which side is the good side. Many decent middle-class Germans chose to support Hitler in the 1930s. They believed he would save them from Jews and communists. For those who survived, it took decades to come to terms with the fact that they had sold their soul to the devil.

Sodium and potassium ions flow in and out through the membranes in the axon, thus creating an electric signal that reaches a synapse, which then releases transmitter substances that activate another neuron.

All your thoughts, emotions, dreams, and fantasies are created by the flow of ions in and out of the neurons. Even your true self is made in this way, like a genie that appears from a magic lamp when you rub it.

You are not the chemicals you are made of. Your mind and your soul, as well as angels and demons, are not to be found in your neurons and their electrochemical reactions. You exist in another dimension.

These words consist of electric bits. But you are not reading bits, you are reading words. The letters in a book consist of ink, but you are not reading ink. Words mean something, while ink is just ink.

You are not your genetic code and the cells you are made of. The law of the jungle does not apply here in this dimension.

The geosphere is the inanimate matter, the biosphere is the animate sphere, the noosphere is the mental sphere, but there is also a fourth sphere, I believe, the mystic sphere. I am not a dualist; I am a quattuoralist.